The Riddle
by coinoperatedbecca
Summary: Somewhat AU. DH spoilers.  Harry tries to be the best godfather he could be to Teddy Lupin, while trying to teach him the things his own godfather taught him when he was younger.


The Riddle

Summary: Thirteen years after the birth of his godson, Teddy, and the death of his parents, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, Harry Potter tries to remember things that his own godfather, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin taught him while they were alive, while trying to teach his own godson those same lessons.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the characters, and I don't own this amazing song, which is by Five for Fighting.

_There was a man back in '95 _

_Whose heart ran out of summers _

_But before he died, I asked him _

_Wait, what's the sense in life _

_Come over me, Come over me _

_He said, _

_Son why you got to sing that tune _

_Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon _

_Let an angel swing and make you swoon _

_Then you will see... _

_You will see _

"Sirius," Fifteen-year-old Harry Potter whispered to his godfather, Sirius Black, as he beckoned him to another room that wasn't filled with people who would most likely eavesdrop on their conversation. "can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure thing, kid," Sirius said, grinning as he got off the chair he was sitting on, wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders, and lead him into an empty room. His eyes scanned the room, making sure some of Fred and George's Extendable Ears were no where near them. "What's bugging you, Harry? You haven't been the same ever since the hearing? Aren't you happy you're going back to Hogwarts?"

When Harry found out that he was going back to Hogwarts he was thrilled, but it was Sirius' reaction that was really getting to him. The way that Sirius sulked around the house for the past week, like he lost his best friend all over again, actually made Harry feel guilty about going back to school.

"Yeah… I am, I haven't been happier in a long time," Harry explained slowly, trying hard not to hurt Sirius with what he wanted to say. "but, it's just the way you acted when you found out I was going back. It felt like you didn't want me to win and go back to school…"

Sirius paused, the grin on his face slowly disappeared and turned into a small frown. "Harry," He said seriously, putting his hand on his godson's shoulder. "I'm sorry if I made you feel guilty for being happy… it's, it's just when school starts almost everybody is going to be gone and it will only be me, my stupid mother, that blasted house elf, and those stupid house elf heads. I got to spend more time with you this summer, Harry, and when I did find out that you were going back… I'm not afraid to admit that I was disappointed Harry, but you're, you're just like your father… did you know that? Did anyone tell you that you are just like James?"

Harry was now looking down at the floor. "Well, Remus said I was a while ago," He said. "and Snape said I was, but he's usually saying that I'm arrogant and stupid like him, and even though I didn't know him, I know he wasn't."

"Old Snivellus is just jealous that James was everything he wasn't." Sirius said quickly. "And the two of you are everything but stupid, arrogant, and anything else Snape says about him."

"There you guys are," Remus said as he opened the door and stuck his head through it. "Molly is going bonkers looking for Harry."

"What does she want now?" Sirius asked, annoyed. "We're talking here!"

"She wanted to know if Harry was hungry for lunch, he didn't eat yet. According to her, that is. I told her I swore I saw him eating sandwiches with Ron and Hermione after cleaning this room out two hours ago." Remus replied as he walked in.

"Yeah, I did." Harry said. "Didn't she hear me and Hermione yelling at Ron for spitting food at us as he talked with his mouth full for the fiftieth time this month?"

Sirius almost barked with laughter. "I heard that," he said, grinning. "I remember Ron spat more food out at the two of you when he started yelling back, which Hermione didn't like very much."

Smirking, Remus looked at both Harry and Sirius. "What did she do?" He asked. "Slapped him, like she did when she first got here and Ron ran into her and accidentally touched her … chest."

Sirius began to laugh even louder when he saw the bewildered look upon Harry's face. "No," He said in between chuckles. "I heard her storm upstairs."

"He actually touched her… _there_?!" Harry asked as he finally began to laugh. "I can't believe I missed that!"

"It was bloody brilliant, Harry." Sirius said, grinning once again. "I think Hermione actually cried, not only was Ron's ears red, but he also had this HUGE red hand print on his cheek. I thought Molly was going to slap him, too."

"Hermione did cry, I remember because I was sitting in the kitchen talking to Bill when it all happened, and our quiet conversation was broken with the sound of Hermione stopping in, bursting into tears, and ranting on how Ron is an immature, stupid, annoying, prat." Remus said. "Then she got angrier when Bill and I started laughing. I couldn't help it though, she's just really funny when she's angry."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something when Molly walked into the room, her hands on her hips, glaring at all three of the men. "Remus!" She barked angrily. "I told you to get Harry so he could eat something before dinner!"

"Molly!" Sirius said, mocking her. "Harry already ate, and Remus and I would appreciate it if you let us talk to Harry for one blasted minute!"

All three of them could tell that Molly was furious, her face was growing red and her lips were pursed tightly. "Fine," She huffed. "talk all you want. Harry," her voice was growing sweeter as she talked to him. "if you're hungry, just come to the kitchen and I'll fix you something up."

"Okay, thanks." Harry said as Molly left after glaring at both Sirius and Remus.

"Honestly," Sirius said after a few seconds of silence. "I think she likes you more than her own kids. Or at least Fred and George."

Remus chuckled. "It seems true, but I just can't believe that, Padfoot." He said. "She just thinks of Harry as one of her own."

"I know that," Sirius said firmly. "she told me that twenty times this month."

Remus shrugged. "She's just trying to be nice," He explained. "anyway, what exactly were the two of you talking about before I got in here?"

Both Sirius and Harry paused. Harry didn't want to say he pulled Sirius in here to talk about how he was feeling guilty about Sirius feeling bad about him going back to Hogwarts, thinking that Remus would find his friend selfish. He was going to say about school when Sirius spoke up.

"We were talking about how Harry is just like James."

Remus paused, and hesitated before turning to Harry. "You are exactly like him," He said slowly. "it's remarkable… you are so much like him, I almost called you James a couple times since you got here."

"That's what I was saying." Sirius said.

Remus was still looking at Harry when he said, "They'd be proud of you. You're parents… I know that they would be proud of the man you have become. They died for you Harry, to make sure that you're life wasn't tragically ended at such a young age, to make sure you got to experience everything…"

Harry was now looking at the floor. "Thank you," he said quietly. "thank you both…"

"For what, Harry?" Sirius asked. "The last thing I remembered was that I was being a selfish git…"

"For being father figures to me," He replied. "if it weren't for you two, I wouldn't know anything about my parents."

"Sometimes life is cruel that way," Remus said gravely. "it takes away the people you love most right when you need them the most. Harry, Sirius and I will always be here for you when you need something, or whenever you're feeling down…"

"Yeah kid, don't forget that." Sirius added, smiling once more. "You're a great kid, Harry.

Smiling, Harry grasped the doorknob. "I'm going to get something to drink." He said before exiting the room, followed by Remus and Sirius.

_Picked up my kid from school today  
"Did you learn anything?  
'Cause in the world today  
You can't live in a castle far away  
Now talk to me, come talk to me."_

_He said,  
"Dad, I'm big but we're smaller than small  
In the scheme of things, well we're nothing at all  
Still every mother's child sings a lonely song  
Now play with me, come play with me._

"_And hey, Dad  
Here's a riddle for you  
Find the answer  
There's a reason for the world  
You and I..."_

_I said,  
"Son, for all I've told you  
When you get right down to the  
Reason for the world...  
Who am I?"_

Life wasn't fair. Just when Harry got to know Sirius, just when he got to spend more than a couple moments with him, when he really got to have a long, full-fledged conversation with him, he was killed. Dead, never to be seen again unless he was suddenly killed and brought to where Sirius was, which is what he wanted right now. There was so much he didn't ask Sirius, so much he wanted to know, so much he _needed _to know.

"Harry?" Remus mumbled. The two of them were at the Burrow, and they were supposed to be celebrating Harry's sixteenth birthday, but the two of them were in no mood to celebrate. "Harry, are you okay? You barely ate anything at lunch."

"I'm fine." Harry replied hastily, not looking at Remus.

Remus had a feeling that Harry was upset about losing Sirius. He wasn't surprised, either. Even though he passed a little over a month ago, Remus still felt the pain of losing his only remaining best friend as though he died only yesterday. "I know how you feel, Harry." He said slowly. "You aren't the only one who is effected by his death."

Harry hesitated before answering Remus, feeling slightly ashamed that he thought that he was the only one who still felt the pain of Sirius' death, thinking that nobody else understood why he felt so badly about it. "Did anyone even stop him from coming?" He asked slowly.

"What do you think?" Remus asked, slightly appalled that Harry would ask something like that. "Of course we tried to stop him! We all did, we all begged him to stay behind but no, he wanted to go because you were in danger, Harry! He didn't care if he was caught, he didn't care if he got injured, he didn't care if he died, for Merlin's sake! The only thing he cared about was getting you out of there, safe."

"What, did he think that you guys wouldn't do that?" Harry asked, finally looking into Remus' amber eyes. "Did he think that you guys wouldn't even go there, like you didn't care about what happened to us?"

"Even though I knew him since Hogwarts," Remus said. "I still never understood how he thought at all. When he went it felt like he was telling us that he didn't believe that we'd help you. He likes being in charge, you know. I also think he went because you being in danger gave him an excuse to go out and fight, to actually do something useful. We couldn't stop him, we couldn't make him turn back."

"He's a selfless idiot." Harry said, not thinking about his choice of words. Remus couldn't help it, he began to chuckle softly. "What?" Harry asked, frowning.

"A selfless idiot?" Remus asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I never heard that one before, even though it is true. He should've known that you would triumph in the end."

"So you're basically telling me that he doubted me all along?" Harry asked.

"No, no," Remus said quickly. "I'm just saying that he wanted to be in charge, he wanted to make it up to you for not being there to protect you the night your parents died. He told me many times before that he regretted not being there earlier, but it wasn't like he could stop Voldemort's magic or anything…"

"He probably would've ended up dead, too." Harry said.

"Exactly."

"I don't get it…" Harry said slowly, looking down at the floor.

"What don't you get, Harry?" Remus asked.

"I don't understand why everyone feels that they need to die for me," Harry said. "I'm nothing special."

"Don't say that, Harry." Remus almost yelled. "You are indeed a special boy! Not only did you survive the killing curse, you, you are the only thing I have left of my friends, and if I didn't get the chance to know you, I would indeed be lost. Now that we established that, I think that we should go outside and eat before everyone else eats everything. Just be positive, Harry… it'll be better before you know it. Not only did I lose Sirius, I lost your parents. I was upset for the longest time, thinking that three of my best friends were dead, and then another was locked up in jail for being responsible for the deaths of my friends. I didn't get over it, but I moved on, which is what you need to do now. It'll be hard, but you'll get through it."

For the first time in weeks, Harry smiled. Standing up, he looked at Remus and said, "I'm starving. Let's begin to move on and eat something, I can smell it all from here and it's only making me hungrier."

"Molly's food is very tempting," Remus laughed as he stood up, following Harry outside. "Lets hurry before there's only crumbs."

_There are secrets that we still have left to find  
There have been mysteries from the beginning of time  
There are answers we're not wise enough to see_

_He said...  
"You looking for a clue  
I love you free..."_

_The batter swings and the summer flies  
As I look into my angel's eyes  
A song plays on while the moon is hiding over me  
Something comes over me_

_I guess we're big and I guess we're small  
If you think about it, man, you know we got it all  
Cause we're all we got on this bouncing ball  
And I love you free  
I love you freely_

_Here's a riddle for you  
Find the answer  
There's a reason for the world  
You and I..._

Harry walked across the elaborate garden that was in the back of Andromeda Tonks' house, feeling slightly guilty about leaving his wife, Ginny alone with their son James, who was six, their other son Albus, who was four, and their daughter Lily who was two. He would've felt worse if it weren't for Hermione, who came to visit Ginny and the kids with her own children, since Ron was with George, trying to get a driver's license.

"Hello?" Harry opened the back door and stuck his head through, only to see that neither Andy or Teddy was in there. Harry closed the door behind him, and walked into the living room, where Andromeda sat, knitting. "Andy?" He asked, making her jump.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, putting her knitting down. "I finally decided to pick up that… thing I started before Teddy was born! I'm afraid my knitting skills are a bit scratchy, though. I haven't done it in thirteen years, but I'm getting better as I get further along."

"That's great," Harry said, grinning. "It looks wonderful, Andy."

"Thank you, I'm quite proud of it." She beamed. "Oh! Look at me, sitting here rambling on to you about knitting. Teddy is upstairs in his room, would you like me to call him down for you?"

"Oh, no, it's fine Andy." Harry said. "I'm just going to go up there."

"Alright," She said. "he's finally unpacking his trunk."

"Maybe I'll give him a hand." Harry smiled as he walked up the stairs, and knocked on the door of his godson's room.

"Holdongram!" A voice said from the other side of the door. "I'm still unpacking!"

"I'm sorry but I don't know a holdongram," Harry smirked. "open up, it's your favorite person in the world, aka your godfather."

The door of the bedroom quickly flew open, and in front of Harry was a thirteen-year-old boy with bright green eyes and a matching Mohawk. "Wow…" Harry said, staring at Teddy's hair. "That looks different than the hairstyle you had yesterday."

Snickering, Teddy led his godfather into his bedroom, which was similar to the one Harry had at the Dursleys. There was a desk, a birdcage, a rubbish bin, a wardrobe, a twin bed, and a trunk that seemed to have exploded all over the room. "I like change." Teddy said as he sat down on the bed.

"Your mother did, too." Harry said quietly. "It seemed as though she was changing something about her every time I looked away."

"Really?" He whispered, somewhat fascinated.

"Yep." Harry responded, smiling. "She also loved changing her nose at the dinner table. Everyone's favorite was the pig's snout, we all laughed for ages when Tonks was at the table."

"Why do you call her Tonks?" Teddy asked as Harry sat down beside him. "Every time you talk about her, you call her Tonks."

"She hated her name, which was Nymphadora, and whenever anyone called her that she'd be so furious her hair would turn red without her knowing about it." Harry couldn't help but laugh as he remembered this. "Your father and your grandfather called her Dora."

Teddy laughed also. "If I were her," he said. "I'd want to be called by my surname, too. What on earth was gram thinking?"

Harry shrugged, laughing again. "Maybe she decided to take medicine for the pain, like Ginny did when she had Lily, and she was a little wonky after your mum was born and decided that she looked like a Nymphadora."

"I think that's it," Teddy grinned. "are you aware that gram will kill us if she comes up here and hears us talking about her being wonky?"

"Yes," Harry responded. "which is why we're going to change the subject."

"Yeah, I think that would be best." Teddy decided. "How's Aunt Ginny and the kids?"

Harry rolled his eyes. Ever since Lily learned how to walk a little over a year ago, things have been more than just chaotic, and ever since his nieces and nephews on Ginny's side started coming over for playdates with his kids, he felt like they had recently opened up a day care center.

"Ginny and I are on the verge of insanity," Harry admitted. "I love my kids and I my nieces and nephews to death, but sometimes I want to rip my hair out, it's hard to concentrate on the work I bring home sometimes. And the other day Lily got a hold of James' markers and colored all over the walls. I thought Ginny was going to explode."

Teddy grinned. "I can picture Lily running through the house with multi-colored markers in her hand, drawing flowers and butterflies all over the walls and furniture. It seems like the both of you are having fun, just like the last time I saw you both."

The two of them could vividly remember the last time Teddy visited Harry's house, which was for his thirteenth birthday party last summer. The whole Weasley clan came, since Teddy was so close to the family, and ever since then Harry's house had never been the same.

"Ah, I remember the exploding birthday cake, and how George told Fred that he was just like his uncle and him when they were younger," Harry said, remember how hard George had laughed when his oldest son, Fred mysteriously put dung bombs in Teddy's birthday cake.

"I think that's why Ginny begged Grandma Weasley to have the party at the Burrow." Teddy grinned. "That cake was amazing, though. Both in taste, and how it exploded."

Harry smiled, and looked at his godson in amazement. He remembered when he had been thirteen, when he learned about his own godfather, when he met Teddy's father. He remembered how he learned the truth about his parent's deaths, how he learned that Sirius had nothing to do with it at all, and how they were really betrayed by Peter Pettigrew.

Harry and Teddy were almost exactly the same. They both lost their parents at a young age, they both had to rely on their godfathers for information on their dead parents. Hopefully, Teddy won't lose Harry like he lost Sirius, one, because Harry wasn't ready to die, and two, Teddy didn't deserve to lose his godfather after losing both of his parents.

"Fourteen, kid." Harry grinned as he elbowed Teddy lightly. "I picked out the perfect present for you, but you can't get it until the party on Saturday."

"Stopit Harry!" Teddy said, smiling. "You're making me anxious."

Sticking his hand in his pocket, Harry felt the somewhat sharp edges of paper that simply laid there. "I want to give you something now, though…" Harry said, taking the photos out of his pocket.

"What is it, Harry?" Teddy asked, his smile growing.

"When… when your father died, he had this in his pocket, and only moments before he went to fight he was showing this off to everyone," Harry said, handing Teddy the first picture, which was of a baby with turquoise hair, waving his fat arms around. "It was you, only a couple weeks after you were born…"

Teddy took the picture, staring at it. After a few moments of silence, he began laughing. "I look like a bloody fool," He mumbled, tracing the edge of the picture with his forefinger.

"This one," Harry said, pulling another picture out. "is of both of your parents, before they got married, though. You can see that your mother had her oh so famous pink hair color."

Quickly, Teddy grabbed the picture, examining his parents closely. "Gram has one like this in the living room…" He said slowly.

"Well, now you have your own copy." Harry smiled.

"Thanks, Harry!" Teddy said as he put the pictures on the desk which was next to his bed.

"There's one more," Harry said quickly. "I have one that is similar to this one, too, it's framed in my room. I donno if you saw it or not… it's of your dad when he was only two years older than you are, with his best friends. Peter Pettigrew, who ended up betraying them all, Sirius Black, my own godfather, and then there's my dad James, he's the one who looks like me."

"Wow, this is so cool!" Teddy said as he took the other picture, staring at it. "Thanks for the comment, captain obvious."

Teddy put the picture next to the other two, and was staring that them, smiling, his green eyes twinkling. "Thanks, Harry." he said again. "This is the best birthday present ever."

"I want you to know something," Harry said slowly, looking at the pictures, also.

"Yeah?"

"The more I think about it, the more I realize that we're similar." Harry said slowly. "We both lost our parents to Voldemort, and I got help from my godfather, and hopefully I'm helping you like he helped me."

"I bet you're helping me more, Harry." Teddy said slowly. "You've been coming here my whole life, telling me anything I wanted to know about my parents… you told me you met Sirius when you were thirteen, and you actually had no clue what your parents were like…"

Harry smiled. "I'm glad I'm helping you," He said. "that's all I want to do, Teddy. I want to help and be there for you."

"You are, really. You're the best godfather anyone could ever have, and you're an even better father."

"I want you to know something else," Harry said. "I have a feeling that you've been asking yourself why your parents went to fight when they just had you… they fought for you, they fought to make sure that you lived in a world that would be a happy one, and not one full of misery and doom. They did just that, Teddy, they fought for you until the end."

"Harry," Teddy asked quietly, not looking his godfather in the eye.

"Yeah, Ted?"

"You said my mother's favorite hair color was pink, right?" He asked.

"Mmm hmm, why?" Harry asked, but before Teddy could answer, Harry could see that his green Mohawk was slowly turning pink.

"If she were alive, do you think she'd like that?" Teddy asked.

"She'd love it, kid, she would absolutely love it. I know she would." Harry smiled.

_Here's a riddle for you  
Find the answer  
There's a reason for the world  
You and I..._

End.


End file.
